County Down mum 'shocked' by ED experience
It comes ahead of the publication of the latest emergency care waiting time statistics
By Tara Griffiths
A County Down mum whose daughter is severely disabled and waited ten hours in ED says it was 'the worst ten hours of her life.'
35-year old Lucinda Dineley has epilepsy, chronic lung disease, hip displacement, arthritis and is severely disabled.
She recently attended the Ulster Hospital's Emergency Department on her GP's recommendation for a haematoma and waited ten hours for it to be removed.
Her mum Alison says she was in pain:
"It was the longest ten hours of my life because Lucinda was so uncomfortable because I was trying to talk to her and say 'yes love we'll get this all over and done with soon' and you could see she was in pain and looking at us as if to say what are you going to do about this?"
With Lucinda's epilepsy she has attended ED many times due to her seizures but they have been less frequent in recent years.
Alison says there were around 60 patients waiting:
"For the last 32 years we've been in and out of hospital.
"I couldn't believe it, I thought oh this is bad.
"Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse they have, I was shocked when I walked through that door."
A statement from the South Eastern Trust said: "Long waiting times are regrettably being experienced across every Trust in the Region and these have been well documented.
"This is not the service we want to provide.
"Unfortunately demand for care continues to outstrip current capacity.
"Staff in our Emergency Department (ED) work very hard to see patients as quickly as possible, according to clinical need.
"Our ED team will always treat the most acutely unwell patients first.
"Patient safety remains our top priority.
"Teams across the hospital and in the community are working together to ensure that every effort is being made to discharge patients who no longer need an acute hospital bed, creating space in our wards so patients can be transferred out of ED.
"To help alleviate pressures within our Emergency Department we would appeal to patients to leave hospital when they are deemed medically fit."
The latest emergency care waiting time statistics are due to be published by the Department of Health on Thursday morning.